2016 Writers Lab

Our second annual Writers Lab retreat took place in the Connecticut River Valley, from Thursday, September 22th, through Sunday, September 25th, 2016.

The night before, on Wednesday the 21st, The Writers Guild of America East generously hosted a celebration for the 8 mentors (below) and 12 writers. Early on Thursday morning, the group traveled together to the retreat.

The heart of the Lab is script development. Over the course of those cool, late-summer days, the participants collected in various configurations: one-on-one with the mentors; in panel discussions; in small groups; over cocktails; and throughout meals.

Each writer met with two mentors separately and listened, discussed, queried, and learned. The panels and small groups focused on a variety of topics, from crafting strong openings for films, to tips for pitching to producers.

In the private, serene environment away from day-to-day pressures and distractions, writers had the opportunity to take their work to the next level.

The Mentors

The 2016 Writers Lab Participants

Carol CarpenterThe Guadalupe

On a hot August night, gunmen surround a remote American farmhouse near the Mexican border – but who are they, why are they here, and can the family survive the night?

Melody CooperSound of Darkness

A blind Afro Cuban musician and a deaf Black American sculptor are haunted by a woman only they can see and hear, who leads them to help a missing girl and take on an epic fight against an evil legacy of racial violence.

Meredith DePaoloDevil’s Eye

In the days leading up to the War of 1812, a Kentucky mining team toiling inside the world’s largest cave complex discovers the body of a pre-Columbian man. Now they’re facing a threat far greater than war.

Nancy DuffDead Drop

Sixteen year-old Scout Sawyer who thinks she’s been living in witness protection, finds out her dad’s really a spy. When he goes missing, she finds herself recruited into a special program for the children of secret agents.

Kate EricksonRoll With It

When self-centered journalist Aurora Fetter is called home to settle her mother’s hoarder estate, she finds herself saddled with more than she expected: a basement full of marijuana plants, a roster of clients demanding their pot deliveries, and an eccentric brother unable to fend for himself.

Tina Field HoweDrone War

In 2095, a battle drone kills super-hacker Salina Sanchez’s best friend. When she breaks into top-secret code to learn who was behind the attack, she ends up in a battle for her life against the unscrupulous Vice President.

Christina HulenA Gentleman of Good Hope

At the turn of the 19th century, a controversial but brilliant British military surgeon must battle detractors who would subvert his pioneering reforms, while maintaining a career-ending secret: He is a woman.

Christine Toy JohnsonJumping The Third Rail

Kelly Chao, a 16-year old native New Yorker who found her place in the world through competitive gymnastics, lost it when her father and coach died trying to protect her, and wonders if she can find it again making subway art with some unlikely new friends on the A train.

Nanci Katz–EllisBlink

A high school freshman yearning for independence in early 80’s Brooklyn learns what it really means to grow up when her parents are forced to leave her and her siblings to fend for themselves, and it’s nothing like she expected.

Leslie LongworthOne Bad Astronaut

A young, unapologetically reckless rock n’roll legend gets a shot at redemption for a decade of bad behavior when he returns home to deal with a paternity suit and falls for the only woman on the planet who’s never heard of him.

Barbara NunbergWillful Blindness

An ambitious woman’s meteoric rise from secretary to editor of Britain’s largest tabloid newspaper catapults her to the top of the country’s power elite. When she authorizes the phone hacking of a teenage murder victim, she becomes entangled in a web of intrigue that could destroy the life she’s created.

Stephanie StanleyThe Radical

The story of Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the most influential women of the 20th Century. Starting out as a shy, powerless woman stuck in the shadow of her philandering husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the film explores Eleanor’s turbulent journey to find her own voice and greatly influence key social reforms we now take for granted.

Finalist

Emily AbtAudrey’s Run

Jamee DecioH.R. 116

Colette FreedmanScattering Rachel

Clea FrostImprint

Lovisa InserraP.O.T.U.S.

Janet LawlerAbsolution

Mickey McGovernWake Up Kate!

Tammy OlsenRed Letter Conspiracy

Katherine RuppeDead of Winter

Kristen TsetsiThe Meeting Trees

Semi-Finalist

Nancy BannonCornfield

Jill BayorEva Hesse

Laura BuchananMajor Schmidt-Storm

Michelle CutlerGirl’s High

Rachel FeldmanThe Antidote

Jessica FunchesOne Last Bow

Maria GiganteEva Eva

Julianne HallThe Optimist Club

Laura KelberRight Hand Man

Rainy KerwinBaden (Death Row)

Susie Landau FinchThe Doctor’s Wife

Kerry Jen LopezA Lesser Man

Janice MargolisCharlotte

Janice MargolisThe Lost Lounge

Chantal MarieFiscal Year

Marjorie Neill-ButlerLost Girl

Maya PerezBring Back Our Girls

Gibran PerroneUnited We Fall

Cornelia RavenalA Midsummer Night’s Moose Story

Andie Redwine-BeckerLaunch

Elizabeth Savage SullivanThe Boy on the Cover

Regina SharonLakeland

Jill SnyderThe Farm

Ela ThierA Story for Old Lovers

Lynn WegenkaEpiphanies

Ellen WestbergMurder at Shoe Tree

Amie WilliamsThe Journey of Winter and Summer

Primary Sidebar

Guest House

Guest House, located in Chester, CT, creates opportunities for transformational work and provide a nurturing environment for those seeking to develop human potential and enrich the world. The aim of Guest House is to provide a nurturing, supportive environment that will allow individuals to focus on their work and use their collective energy to develop their human potential, strengthen their organizations, and bring their individual work into the world. The name of the retreat center was inspired by the poem, The Guest House, by Rumi, a 13th century mystic poet.

Lab Guest Speaker

Alexis Alexanian, President, NYWIFT Board of Directors

Alexis Alexanian has over twenty years of industry experience as a producer and consultant to major industry players. She is currently President of Production at LOCOMOTIVE, a film, television and financing company founded by Lucy Barzun Donnelly and Alexandra Kerry. Learn More…